


Come morning light

by dragonesdepapel



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Angst, Evil Wins, F/F, serious injuries but it's all pretty vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-26 04:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16674166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonesdepapel/pseuds/dragonesdepapel
Summary: Catra can't remember the last time Adora willingly admitted to being scared. She guesses that being at the edge of dying does that to a person. It wouldn't do it to her, of course, but Adora had always been made of tender stuff.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I want fluff but I guess I had to get the "what's the worst thing that could happen?" out of my system.

“So, how does it feel to know that you've lost?” 

Adora is breathing in short, sudden bursts. “It's actually kinda scary.”  

Catra can't remember the last time Adora willingly admitted to being scared. She guesses that being at the edge of dying does that to a person. It wouldn't do it to her, of course, but Adora had always been made of tender stuff. 

“Good to know,” she says, already turning away.  

But of course, she won't make it so easy. She can't even get up up from the floor but she still has to get in the last word. Typical Adora. 

“Stay with me, please?” Catra rolls her eyes, but she still catches the moment Adora squeezes her eyes shut in pain. "It won't be long." 

Catra doesn't need to be told that. If it were anyone else, perhaps someone without magical swords or fated destinies, she wouldn't have lasted this long. It had been a long fall from that cliff.

“I guess I could spare a few seconds for you, now that I've secured the victory of the Horde.” 

“Thank you.” Adora smiles like she means it, and Catra can't believe she had ever been friends with someone this foolish. 

She sits, looking down at her. Adora's hands trembles like she wants to move it. Her arm is bent at an odd angle. It would have probably prevented her from picking up the sword one last time, had she had the chance to try. Catra will not take her hand, but she guesses that wrapping her tail around her arm is a good compromise. 

Their fight took them far away from the rest of the battle, but they could still hear the commotion. Well, Catra can. She doubts Adora can hear anything besides her labored breaths. She itches to go back, to finish crushing the Rebellion’s forces with her own bare hands. 

“I'm sorry,” her chest is heaving more violently now. “I should have never let Shadow Weaver do that to us. I thought I could save Etheria, save you.” Her voice fails her for a second but it comes back. “But I couldn’t do it, I'm sorry.” 

"Oh Adora, you really thought you could have stopped this, didn't you?" She coos. 

Adora doesn't answer, overtaken by a new wave of pain. Doesn't she realize it would be better to forget about it already? What's even the point? There’s nothing coming to save her. No magic solution, no last-minute turnaround.  

It doesn’t stop her. It never did. 

"I love you.” 

Catra hisses. "Don't you think it’s a bit late for your mind games?"  

"It's not-" she closes her eyes again. "It's not a mind game. It never was. You know that, Catra." 

For a second, Catra considers walking away after all. But the truth is that she would never pass up an opportunity like this. To watch Adora broken and helpless. To see her be vulnerable at last. 

"I'm dying, Catra," she says like it isn't obvious. "I just wanted to say it, at least once. I never got the chance before." 

Catra doesn't bother to acknowledge that with an answer. She wags her tail to the sides now, getting impatient. 

"I'll destroy the sword," Catra says suddenly, before she can really think about it. Before she can twist it around and make it into a weapon and before she has had time to process it herself. It's a misstep, and Catra hadn't taken one of those in a while. It's not like it matters now, Adora won't be around to remember it anymore. But Catra will, and that made it all the more dangerous.  

Adora chuckles. Or chokes. Catra isn’t sure. "That's fair."  

That gets her attention. She waits for an explanation. It takes her a second to remember that she can’t see the interrogating expression on her face. "Really?" 

"I don't think anyone else should be called to use it. I wish-” the pause is longer this time. Finally, she opens her eyes again, makes an effort to continue. “I wish Glimmer could have it, but I know I can't ask that from you.” 

“You are right, you can't.” But she could destroy it in front of her, have them watch her do it. If losing Adora doesn't completely crush the Rebellion's morale then that would certainly do. Not that they still stood a chance, morale or not. But it could be fun. 

"At least I know you will survive" 

Catra smirks. That, she knows as well. She leans down, cupping Adora's face with her hand. She runs her fingers over the wounds there. Over the countless scars. Parallel lines over parallel lines. She tucks Adora's hair behind her ears. 

"Let go, Adora." 

Adora smiles, endlessly hopeless, endlessly gentle, endlessly infuriating. But she closes her eyes and she does. 


	2. Chapter 2

Catra’s voice comes from somewhere above her. “So, how does it feel to know that you've lost?” 

“It's actually kinda scary.”  

It is. It really is. Adora has never been good at staying still. The passing of the years had never fixed that. And now this is how it will all end. With her laying on her back, looking up at the sky. Paralyzing fear on her heart, paralyzing injuries on her body.

She can’t even look at Catra one last time.

“Good to know,” she hears, and the panic hits her again, as agonizing as a physical punch.

“Stay with me, please?” In her desperation, she tries to get up to stop her, and the resulting sting forces her to close her eyes for a second. "It won't be long."

It’s a foolish hope. Catra has never been farther from her than in this moment.

“I guess I could spare a few seconds for you, now that I've secured the victory of the Horde.” 

The words calm her more than they ought. They won’t fix her, they won’t fix them. But it’s a grace she hadn’t expected. One she had lost years ago but had never stopped missing.

“Thank you,” she says, feeling herself relax. It’s not much, but it’s better.

Her body begins to tremble. She doesn’t have much time left.

Something touches her arm, distracting her from the once again raising panic. It’s soft and warm and gentle. All the things she didn’t think she’d feel now, in her last moments.

Now that she has Catra, there’s so much she wants to say. It pushes at her consciousness along with the pain. She feels so much she can’t feel anything at all.

“I’m sorry,” she finally settles on. She’s sorry she dragged Catra into this mess. She’s sorry she didn’t do a better job of protecting her. She’s sorry she pushed her farther into the darkness.

But she doesn’t have enough time to apologize for all the things she should. She wraps them all up into a single mistake.  “I should have never let Shadow Weaver do that to us. I thought I could save Etheria, save you.” She falters for a second. She has to be careful, or Catra will be gone and she will be lost. “But I couldn’t do it, I'm sorry.”

“Oh Adora, you really thought you could have stopped this, didn't you?”

She hears the mock in Catra’s voice. In other circumstances, she might have bitten back. But as it is, she’s taken by a new wave of pain. When it passes, there’s only one thing left on her mind. A thought that at times had consumed her as much as the ache she’s experiencing now.

“I love you.”

Catra retreats, disappearing from her line of sight. She has no trouble picturing what she must look like. Hair on end, claws out. Ready to pounce. If she leaves, Adora will never be able to tell.

“Don't you think it’s a bit late for your mind games?”

It’s a miracle she got a response at all. It still irritates her. Catra would be the one to manage to do that even now. But it also warms her. Catra has always felt so much she had no choice but to bury it. She got very good at it over the years. But she didn’t realize that the more she tried to hide it, the more noticeable it became. For Adora, at least. She knew her so well. Probably better than she knew herself.

“It’s not-” she starts, defensive. She closes her eyes, grasping for some semblance of calmness. If she has ever wanted to do something right, it’s this. “It's not a mind game. It never was. You know that, Catra.”

She has to know, right?

"I'm dying, Catra," she says, willing her to understand. "I just wanted to say it, at least once. I never got the chance before."

That’s a lie. A huge one. The truth is that she had always been scared of saying it. Of finding out exactly how far gone Catra was. It’s funny that she doesn’t feel scared of it now. Perhaps she’s being selfish by saying it when nothing can be done about it.

Perhaps Catra is right to think so little of her.

Catra doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t leave either. Adora is determined to stay awake for as long as she’s around. ‘ _Control freak,’_  Glimmer would say. Trying to dictate her own death. But she can’t control what happens to Etheria anymore. She can’t even protect her friends. Somewhere, not too far away, their fight continues. She wishes she could apologize to them too.

“I’ll destroy the sword.” Catra’s words pull her away from her thoughts. She realizes she has had her eyes closed for a dangerous amount of time, but opening them feels like too much of a waste.

Of course, Catra would want to destroy the sword. Adora laughs, but it gets stuck on her throat, sending a stab of pain up from her stomach.

“Really?”

“I don't think anyone else should be called to use it.” She thinks of Mara. Of herself. Adora doesn’t resent the sword. She chose this burden willingly. But her friends didn’t. Not Glimmer, not Bow, not Catra. Neither did any of the other princesses. “I wish Glimmer could have it.” She thought she deserved that, at least. She would know what Adora meant by it. “But I know I can't ask that from you.”

Not after everything she’s taken from her already.

“You are right, you can’t.”

Adora feels tired. The cold is spreading, trying to climb up her legs. But she won’t give in. She’s worked so hard. All of them. She can’t leave them now, not after everything. She has failed them, like she always feared she would.

Softly, softer than she ever has, Catra rests a hand on her face. The cold retreats for a few blessed seconds. She caresses her cheeks, and now is warmth that envelopes her. Catra won’t say it, and Adora won’t push, not more than she already has. But she can feel it on her touch. She can see it in her eyes.

“Let go, Adora.”

Isn’t this what she has hoped for all these years? To fall asleep with her best friend at her side once again?

Her smile is the last thing she feels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I wasn't done. I wasn't so sure about posting this? I feel like the first one is too subtle and this one has the opposite problem. But I made myself so upset with that last part that I was like ok, now you gotta earn your keep.


End file.
